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At HBA’s Government Affairs Committee meeting last month, Washington County Land Use and Transportation staff presented updates to the Long Range Planning Work Program, and discussed the county’s operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Members and LUT staff engaged in a robust discussion on how to ensure inspections, plan reviews, and other development related activities can move forward during this time of social distancing. Roseann Johnson, HBA Assistant Director of Government Affairs, presented recent findings from her review of the Clackamas County Housing Needs Analysis and Buildable Lands Inventory (BLI). At HBA’s request, the county developed a web-map tool to allow for parcel-level analysis. HBA staff conducted a detailed review of the BLI, finding that the county misclassified 31 parcels of land as available for future housing, equating to 350 ‘lost’ housing units. Based on this work, the county has acknowledged errors in parcel classification and directed its consultant to author a memo outlining the BLI revisions. Roseann explained that the refined BLI demonstrates the critical need for jurisdictions to consider policies that encourage housing supply. Ellen Miller, Government Affairs Associate at the Oregon Home Builders Association (OHBA) gave a brief update on legislative and regulatory advocacy at the state level. OHBA is working with state agencies and the legislature on economic recovery and moving forward from the COVID-19 pandemic, including pressing pause on the implementation of new regulations and fees. OHBA is also focused on the draft model code and rulemaking for HB2001 and Governor Brown's Executive Order 20-04, directing state agencies to take actions to reduce and regulate greenhouse gas emmissions. For more information on OHBA’s work at the state level, contact Ellen Miller at ellen@oregonhba.com. At HBA's monthly Government Affairs Committee meetings, members review, discuss, and provide direction on policy and regulatory issues of interest to the home building and associated industries. The committee is also responsible for candidate and issue endorsement decisions on behalf of HBA, as well as funding decisions for our political action committee, Oregonians for Affordable Housing. For more information, contact Ezra Hammer at ezrah@hbapdx.org.